Category: local government

Over the past few days, I’ve had calls and emails from residents concerned at how council work on Whitechurch Road will affect bus services in the area. Today is the first day of a contingency plan that will run until May 21.

I understand that there a number of elderly and disabled people in the Whitechurch area concerned that the new arrangements will add up to 20 minutes on to their journey. Having spoken to the Council and Dublin Bus regarding this, they too understand the difficulty and have promised to monitor the progress as works are ongoing.

From today, Whitechurch Road is closed between Taylor’s Lane and Whitechurch Green. A diversion is in place for motorists via Whitechurch Road, College Road and Grange Road. Access will remain for residents.

Dublin Bus say that Route 15B will terminate at Ballyboden Roundabout at Taylor’s Lane. Passengers travelling on the 116 and 161 can get their bus outside the Costcutters shop on Taylor’s Lane.

I am pleased to announce that DLR County Council have contacted me in relation to the water supply crisis. They have told me that due to significant progress in finding and fixing leaks throughout the County the Council will no longer have to impose countywide severe pressure reductions on a nightly basis.

However, they have also advised that due to ongoing local issues with water levels in Sandyford, Church Road and Rathmichael Reservoirs, less severe pressure restrictions will continue to be necessary in certain areas. The Council have confined these restrictions to times that will cause the least impact on residents in these areas. These times will be generally between the hours of 10pm and 6am. Crucially it is also not anticipated that these pressure restrictions will result in loss of water supply.

I know this will come as a great relief to all of you who have suffered from the shortage of water supply. The Council and I would also like to acknowledge the co-operation of households and businesses in reporting leaks and conserving the water supply over the last 2 months. This has greatly assisted the move from crisis to recovery.

The Council have also asked that I can convey the message that Water conservation efforts from all households and businesses I the County still remains critical to ensure that restrictions can continue to be eased incrementally.

If you have any other queries or you continue to have problems with your water supply please contact the Council at 2054800 between 9am and 5pm. For emergency calls only please ring 6778844.

The events of recent days give rise to very important issues which go beyond the personalities concerned. There is a need to have a debate on the nature and quality of representation and what we can expect from politicians and people in public life. I have just come from a meeting of the Joint Committee on the Constitution which is wrestling with issues pertaining to the electoral system and the nature and quality of representation that Deputies and public representatives are able to offer.

There may not be sufficient time for proper debate on the very real changes that could come about. We may need to amend a host of legislation if the proposal is to work. It is not possible to introduce a stand-alone Bill on a directly elected mayor of Dublin without amending local government legislation and, perhaps, the planning and development Acts. If I argue that we need more time when the Bill is published sometime in the next three or four weeks, I do not want to be accused of raising obstacles simply because I want to debate it properly. I ask for sufficient time to tease out the issues and if we have to amend other legislation to improve the quality of our democracy, let us do so.

Others have referred to the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party meeting on Tuesday, which is where most of the debate seems to be going on about all the issues of concern to the public.

This should not be the case.

When we are talking about bonuses for senior civil servants, the reform of local government or all the other issues of concern to the public, the debate should be held in the Houses of the Oireachtas and not behind closed doors so that we do not have to tune into “Morning Ireland” to find out what was happening from some poor soul who was at the meeting.

Constituents continue to have problems with water supply in Dublin South. While the problems are not as widespread as they were earlier in the week, they continue to be a hindrance to households. The following is the latest information at 1500 on Friday.

Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council

Central Park, Leopardstown area, Balally, Sandyford Industrial Estate, South County Business Park will be without water or suffer a severe reduction in water pressure until 11 am on Saturday January 16.

Mount Merrion/ Stillorgan/Kilmacud/Goatstown areas will be without water or suffer a severe reduction in water pressure until 11 am on Saturday January 16.

Pine Valley, Kilcross, Kingston, Kellystown,Ticknock Hill, Simons Ridge, Woodpark, Ludford, Ballinteer Avenue, will be without water or suffer a severe reduction in water pressure until 11 am on Saturday January 16.

DLR say that supply to this area is back ON, although problems remain in Hillside Drive , Landscape Road and Loreto areas and these are being investigated.

Water supply to Kilmacud Area including Mount Merrion, Stillorgan, Kilmacud, and Pine Valley has been turned back on this morning and continuous supply should be available until 7pm this evening, when it will be turned off again.

Water supply to the Stepaside area, including Cairnfort and Kellystown, has had to be turned off because of critically low water levels at the supply reservoir.

The water will be restored at 5pm this evening.

Sandyford Road and adjoining estates off it including Ballally (parts), Moreen and Kilcross estates, Ticknock Hill, Simons Ridge and adjoining estates will also be without water until 5pm this evening.

South Dublin County Council:Water has been turned OFF until 5pm in the following areas:

Whitechurch Estate Glenmore Edmonstown Road

SDCC say that water pressures in most areas have returned to normal. Any residents who still have no water have been asked to remain patient! There are burst water mains in Knocklyon and the situation is being investigated at the moment. However, it should NOT affect local water supplies.

Supplies in Ballyboden and Edmondstown have been cut off because of low levels in the reservoirs. It is hoped to turn the water back on between 5 pm and 7 pm this evening.

When politicians ask themselves what service they can give to the people in the context of the flooding crisis, it pertains to what should be done in the future. In part, Members can give voice and have a role in giving voice to people who are faced with this situation on a daily basis. I refer to those whose homes and lives have been destroyed or almost destroyed in many cases. While this is important, others such as the media can do it as well and people can do it themselves. One can see and hear the frustration of people on radio and television. However, politicians operate in a completely different context. Most importantly, their role pertains to deciding what to do to ensure such things do not happen again.

Otherwise, they have no real role. Members have been debating the Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill in this House in the past week or two. I consider it to be good legislation in the main and my party has made this clear in the course of the debate. If memory serves, it includes a reference in the context of development plans to the risk associated with flooding. The Minister needs to re-examine this legislation in the context of returning to this House on Report Stage and subsequently to the Dáil, to ascertain whether it can be strengthened further. I wager that in practically every case in which houses and developments have been built on flood plains over the past ten to 15 years, some lone voice who stood up to argue against it was told he or she was anti-investment, anti-building, anti-progress or anti-something and was shot down over it.

From my personal experience of being on a local authority in an urban area, I know this is what happens to people who raise genuine issues, including people in my party and in this House in respect of improper, ill-advised and inappropriate development and planning carried out in an improper and unsustainable way. This is the difficulty we face. It is not simply about the weather. Some people across this debate like to suggest this is about the weather and that the Government has no control over it and so they throw their heads back.

However, John Gibbons published a good piece in yesterday’s The Irish Times, reminding his readers that this crisis does not follow from a particularly serious period of storms. It has to do with our woeful lack of preparedness in many parts of the country. The kind of debate Members must have as politicians is to ascertain what service they will provide to the people through the planning system and otherwise to ensure there is no repetition of what has happened in recent days, rather than simply giving voice to the genuine hurt that exists.

I wish send my congratulations to my colleague, or as they say in the European Parliament, my dear colleague, former Senator Alan Kelly who is now a Member of the European Parliament. We are congratulating many people who have been elected to positions in local authorities around the country, mayoralties and so on. It is right we should congratulate them. However, we are reminded by this, unfortunately, of the constraints and limitations in the powers of elected mayors, deputy mayors and local authority members throughout the country. This is a timely occasion to raise this issue. Last week I asked the Leader of the Seanad to arrange a debate in the House about Dublin. In early or mid-May, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government made an announcement in respect of a directly elected mayor for Dublin and, perhaps, other cities.

I, like many others in the country, would enthusiastically support the position of directly elected mayor, but it must be a position of power. It must be a position that has real authority associated with it. Otherwise, it simply grafts a post onto the existing weak system of local government. I made the point previously in the House that we have a very weak parliament in Ireland. We have an even weaker system of local government. We now have a good opportunity to debate these issues.